CAFCE urges government to create federal tax credit for co-op employers

The Canadian Association for Co-operative Education (CAFCE) has submitted a brief to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance in advance of the federal budget. CAFCE recommends the government create a Federal Co-operative Education Hiring Tax Credit. CAFCE in the brief argues that co-op programs are underutilized in Canada because many employers find them to be prohibitively expensive to implement. CAFCE says that a federal initiative to match existing provincial programs would help offset the cost of hiring co-op students for employers who would otherwise be unable to hire co-op students and would encourage employers who already employ co-op students to hire more. CAFCE recommends a tax credit of $3,000 per student; assuming a 50% uptake rate from participating employees, this initiative would cost approximately $79 M per year. The credit, CAFCE says, should stack on top of existing provincial tax credits. CAFCE Brief